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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Fool's mate

For the Peter Hammill album of the same name, see Fool's Mate (album)

Fool's mate is the quickest possible checkmate in the game of chess. One example consists of the moves

1.f3 e5

2.g4 Qh4#

leading to the position shown. There are a few slight variations on the pattern — White might play f4 instead of f3 or move the g-pawn before the f-pawn, and Black may play e6 instead of e5.

Even among rank beginners, the mate almost never occurs in practice, but is notable as being the shortest possible game ending in checkmate.

More generally, the term fool's mate is applied to all similar mates early in the game; for example, 1.e4 g5 2.Nc3 f6 3.Qh5# - the pattern of the simplest fool's mate is maintained: white advances his f and g-pawns, allowing a queen mate along the unblocked diagonal. One such fool's mate is widely reported to have occurred in a possibly apocryphal 1959 game between Masefield (or Mayfield, depending on the source consulted) and Trinka (or Trinks or Trent) which lasted just three moves: 1.e4 g5 2.Nc3 f5 3.Qh5# (variants on these moves also exist; see numbers 3295, 4493 and 4506 in Edward Winter's Chess Notes[1]).

The same basic mating pattern may also occur later in the game. There is, for instance, a well-known trap in the Dutch Defence which occurred in 1896 between Frank Melville Teed and Eugene Delmar that runs 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bf4 g5 4.Bg3 f4; it seems that Black has won the bishop, but now comes 5.e3 (threatening Qh5#, the basic Fool's mate idea) 5...h5 6.Bd3?! (6.Be2 is probably better, but this move sets a trap) 6...Rh6? (defending against Bg6#, but...) 7.Qxh5+! Rxh5 8.Bg6#.

Even more generally, the term "Fool's mate" is used in chess variants for the shortest possible mate, especially those which bear a resemblance to the orthodox chess fool's mate. Fool's mate in progressive chess, for example, is 1.e4 2.f6 g5 3.Qh5#.

• Scholar's mate